ok i'm changing my car this year and i've found 4 cars i like the drive of but keep changing my mind about each one!!!

Fiesta 1.6 tdci
Skoda Yeti 2.0 tdi
A3 sportback 1.4tsi
honda jazz 1.4

Bikes is the main stumbling block…

Fiesta boot too small for my 3-4x a week biking to faff around with both wheels off so it will have to live with a permanent roof bar + carrier set up on (i do that now on my current car)

yeti has longer boot and i like its tonka toy looks + i always wanted a sort of 4×4 (even though its not a proper landrover one). It'll be better for parking up on verges as its got lots of clearance and wont scrape bits like my car does now. Also nice high position to see well on narrow lanes with walls and hedges. (i live in cumbria). BUT bike will always have to go in boot i think (front wheel off) as not sure i'll manage with a roof carrier due to its height (169cm then add a bit on for roof bars + carrier). I'm wondering if i'll get sick of putting bike in the back though when its cold, wet and muddy after the ease of sticking it on a carrier like i do now.

A3 sportback, bike will fit in boot (front wheel off) or i can put it on the roof easily. But it'll scrape on verges and some car parks i go to, plus i'll be labelled an audi c*ck 😀 (not that i really care about that bit!) and its not really any better specced than the yeti.

Honda jazz, well i quite like it but it the most sluggish of the 4.

Yeti and A3 similar price if i go with a broker, fiesta obviously cheaper but a lot smaller.

get whatever car you like most and get a hitch fitted

The audi will have servicing costs that will make you cry. That's just my experience of owning an Audi, I still think it's a great car but we have the 2.0Tdi.

you're joking about the Jazz & Skoda aren't you?

Don't go for the Honda, they've just started making them in Swindon, so they'll be crap now!

Jazz driver = old man
Audi driver = the new BMW driver
Skoda driver = inverse snobbery

and you say the Fiesta's too small.

Out of those 4. Without a doubt Audi. Different class of car!

whats wrong with the skoda?
great mtn bikers car.

whats wrong with the skoda?

I rest my case

Get the audi a3 with roofrails, looks better than the standard a3 sportback and iirc costs about £200 extra. you can then mount your bike to the roof and problem sorted!

My wife has a 04 sportback great car and nearly done 100k with no major probs- 2l tdi mind you.

uplink i take it back.
i had made the assumption that it was basically just an octavia.

I quite like the look of that!

Skoda. Simple. If you can afford a diesel, do so. They're great.

The Audi will be lovely but multo ££. Have been lucky enough to play in one of the loony tunes 6spd turbo diesel tiptronic nutter waggons. Epic.

The Jazz is, contrary to the above, a very good car. Roadie friend of mine has one and swears by it. But could you really be seen driving one? Without a pair of driving gloves, a pipe and slippers?

I've got a Honda you muthafuc….oooh a nice cup of tea.

yeti actually looks like this for the production model!

But i like it 😀

The Jazz does come with a prescription windscreen though 😉

save you money on driving glasses 😀

Careful getting out of your chair, samuri.

ok well honda was bottom of the list anyway so i think i'll cross that one off!

Skoda, I like it a lot.
But you could go for this and have a skoda, stylish and coupe.

You seem to have picked out 4 pretty shocking options for cars! 1.4 TSi A3? Thats the Turbo/Supercharged jobbie isn't it? I've not driven one but I do rely somewhat on what I read in the motoring press and its quite widely recognised as one of the worst engines in history.

Buying new or used?

Old car fell apart before Yeti became available so I went for an Octavia estate which shares many of the same parts and is excellent. I agree that you need to look at a tow hitch and a rack on the back. I can get a bike onto a roof rack carrier on the Octavia but I wouldn't fancy doing it on the Yeti and a tow hitch is going to be my birthday present to myself.

Audi is an Octavia/Yeti for those who like to pay for the badge – much of the running gear and the engine of my Octavia originally appeared on Audi's costing twice as much. Call it inverse snobbery if you wish, I call it a significant saving.

hairy, that's a "skip"

anyway, what do I know? My car is a Vectra with a Swedish bodykit on it; the last one was a beemer and the 2 before that were Alfas

is that the 'short straw list'…

Fiesta will be better to drive but you ride alot. What else do you have to carry?

I love the Jazz- could never buy one though. Everytime we go to Edinburgh to see friends I always insist on driving hers 😀

The posh snob in me honestly says Audi however if I was to own an Audi it would have to be something like a 2.0T/S3. Otherwise you look like a poorman trying to be 'made'/rich when your not- its obvious that you are trying too hard. The 1.6 Audi A3 drivers always remove their boot badges- same really with 1.4T 😆

However……. 4×4 really flicks my switch and the VAG system apperently has been improved even better… and I like the 2.0TDI engine, its torque and its practicality.

Skoda Yeti 2.0 tdi.

Sticking a bike on a roof rack is a frigging faff. Especially if you want to pop into a service station, pub, end of a rainy ride etc etc etc.

john_drummer – Member
hairy, that's a "skip"

Twin exhausts?

Seriously though, Skoda are now superb cars after VW came in. A massive turnaround.

DaveyBoyWonder – the 1.4 TFSI is supposed to be pretty good, quite quick and also economical.

Seemed ok in the golf i drove, and its the same engine in the A3

http://motortorque.askaprice.com/news/auto-0906/volkswagen-14-tsi-wins-engine-of-the-year-2009.asp

A3 sportback 1.4 TFSI – 0.60 9.6 secs, economy 38 urban, 57 extra urban, 47 combined

I like that skoda

Ps. NO offence to anyone who debadges BTW- I'd personally rather have a higher spec VW Golf than a lower spec Audi A3 though. **** what your neighbours think. What next, pop round and ask them what curtains you should choose?

The skip-joke above.. How old are you? early to mid 40's onwards?! 😉

I know, I know.

The Estelle convertible was the one on which the "what do you call a skoda convertible? a skip" gag was based, before VAG took over.

see also "why do Ladas have heated rear windscreens? to keep your hands warm while you're pushing it". Except Lada never got better.

How old are you? early to mid 40's onwards? yes Hora, bang on.
I can remember when Skoda's were cr@p. But see my comment above.

yeah i think Skoda Yeti is winning, i can always get a tow bar rack if i dont fancy putting dirty bikes in the back.

Really nice to drive, not quite as fun as the fiesta but its probably a lot more practical, and its a lot nicer inside.

Go for the Yeti out of that lot. Surprisingly well received by various car magazines, more interesting than the others.

and for what it's worth, I'd probably have the Skoda out of that list too.

Yeti plus towbar and rack. Simples…

I was thinking….I'd have a Audi A3 with a 2.0TDI engine..but then I had a mkV Golf TDI and the rear wasnt really wide enough or practical enough to chuck a bike in without scrapping interior plastics from time to time (it was almost a reverse tardis).

Yeti.

Get the Skoda I would love one.

I haven't seen a Yeti in the flesh yet… but how big is it? Are we talking Suzuki Vitara 5 door size or smaller? My Dad keeps talking about getting a new 4×4 and I was thinking they looked like pretty good value.

I ordered a Yeti a month ago and can't wait to get it. Comfy 5 seat car and a van in one. With 4×4 capability for Mrscrackfox so she can get down farm tracks in winter for work.

I'd say Yeti, practical and no slouch.

Not wanting to go completely off-the-wall but I had a look at the Yeti a month or so back…it's pretty expensive for what it is…for a similar vehicle, the Citreon Berlingo is much cheaper (although doesn't come with fauxbyfaux). The Yeti looks nice but for the money I reckoned it was VW – big price/low spec and it wasn't right for Skoda i.e. Skoda's are normally well specced for their price, but the Yeti seemed overpriced for the spec.

Audi – it's a Skoda with a posh badge and a higher price on everything – look nice but don't really do it for me (unless it is S3 or RS4 – but those are stupid money!).

Roof rack – dead simple to use – you ride 3 or 4 times a week – is every ride involving a drive as well? Throwing in the boot is dead easy but I find it more of a faff than sticking the bike on the roof – even in bad weather, sticking the bike on the roof takes less time than dumping it in the boot (assuming you have to remove a wheel or 2 – Berlingo would mean you wouldn't need to – lift boot and roll in). Ideally a towball hitch and rack – but that is serious money on top of a new car – roof rack would be my suggestion – unless you plan on using mutli-storey car parks, then everything else Hora has mentioned seems irrelevant as service stations have bags of room to get in; assuming the racks have locks, leaving them in the pub for a pint won't be an issue and I'm not sure what the faff is with lifting your bike onto a rack and locking the carry arms in place – certainly much easier than throwing into the boot.

Out the 4 you are looking at I'd go for the Fiesta – the Skoda and Audi are overpriced and the Honda doesn't strike me as roomy as the Fiesta (although I suspect it probably has the same carrying capacity) but I haven't looked at the Jazz in a huge amount of detail so I could be missing something.

Saying that, Honda reliability is legendary, whereas it's only been in the last 4-5 years that Ford have become reliable.

DickBarton –

the faff with the yeti and a roofrack would be its height, its about 169cm high + than a few cm more for the bars and bike carrier, so not sure i could lift it to that height comfortably myself.

Honda is definately roomier than the fiesta, but a bit duller.

off to play with them again this afternoon with my bike, but i think they Yeti 🙂

Honda reliability:

On the early Jazz they had quality and reliability problems when they shifted production from Japan to China (circa 2007?).

I was also abit surprised to read- honestJohn in his Telegraph section- he said the Jazz does suffer from various major reliability problems – wheel bearings etc etc (last Sat's Motoring supplement).

Saying that, I still like them.